Mondo's NAT #605

Native American Tribes series.

Wanapam

The Wanapam (or Wanapum) Indians belonged to the Shahaptian division of the Shapwailutan linguistic stock and were connected closely with the Palouse Indians. The name "Wanapum" is from the Sahaptin wánapam, meaning "river people", from wána, "river", and -pam, "people". They lived in the bend of Columbia River between Priest Rapids and a point some distance below the mouth of Umatilla River, and extending east of the Columbia north of Pasco. They seem to have included two branches, the Chamnapum and Wanapam proper.

In prehistoric times, the tribe's territory was (and still is) an excellent salmon-fishing area. The tribe made houses from tule and cut over 300 petroglyphs into the basalt cliffs. In 1805, according to the journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, the Wanapum, led by their chief Cutssahnem, greeted the expedition and treated its members well, sharing food and entertainment. Captain Clark’s journals provide descriptions of their dwellings, clothing, and physical characteristics.

In the 1800s, a new Native religion, called Washane, Washani or "Dreamer Religion", was created by a spiritual leader of the Wanapum named Smohalla. Adherents to this religion believed that the white man would disappear, if rituals and traditional life was adhered to; instead of participating in armed conflicts, the people prayed. Whether due to this religion or for other reasons, the tribe never fought white settlers, did not sign a treaty with them, and as a result retained no federally recognized land rights. The Washane religion is still practiced by some members of other tribes.

In 1953 the construction of the Priest Rapids Dam and the Wanapum Dam flooded the riverbanks where the Wanapum had lived in traditional tule houses. About 60 Wanapum petroglyghs were blasted from the rock before being flooded; they may be viewed at Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park. A Wanapum Heritage Center Museum displays artifacts of the time before the dams, while the Wanapum River Patrol keeps watch over the ancestral lands, monitoring locations of special significance to the Wanapum to protect those places from depredation, and also providing information to visitors.

Mooney (1928) estimates their population as 1,800 in 1780. About 60 Wanapam still live near the present day site of Priest Rapids Dam.